PowerBook 3400C Battery Rebuild

[Powerbook27364]

Well, now I have a new item to hunt for and some new hope haha. I'm assuming there is some sort of board inside them that needs to be saved?

 

[TonyJay]

The 3400s can use either NiMH or LiON batteries although AFAIK all were shipped with LiON. Originally 5300s were also shipped with LiON but were recalled due to battery fires- firmware was changed to not allow LiON, only NiMH. So 5300 NiMH packs will be around and there were definitely 3rd party ones (BTI?). The ones I have now are not leaking at least externally, but are good and truly dead. From what I have been able to find, they can be rebuilt. So I am hoping to use them in my 3400's and live with their lower capacity. I am not sure if rebuild is hard but I am having a battery repair shop do them. I recently rebuilt a couple of Newton 2100 NiMH batteries... Now that was a nightmare as the clearance are SO tight that after what seemed to perfect seam gluing, I had to sand the cases almost to the batteries to get them to slide it.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

The 5300 battery case style is horrid to open. Possible though.

 

[TonyJay]

I will post progress. Unfortunately battery shop supplier sent the wrong batteries (too big) so I have wait another 3 weeks. Apparently they order all their batteries from one source.. did not ask from where, but likely China.

BTW here is 68kmla.org previous discussion on rebuilding 3400 batteries. No success. https://68kmla.org/bb/index.php?threads/powerbook-3400-kanga-battery.39451/

 

[LaPorta]

If you want an in-country supplier, check Batteries Plus. They are where I get my 4/3 A NiMH cells for PB1400 rebuilds.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

Do you go in person or on their website? I’m going to need to order some for my 3 packs at some point.

 

[LaPorta]

I'm fortunate to have a local branch, but you can order online as well. The benefit of going in person if you have a store nearby is they will actually tack-weld on metal tabs in the places that the original battery pack has them if you give them the old one as an example. This will greatly simplify your rebuild.

 

[3lectr1cPPC]

do you solder yours? My plan is to get a spot welder to do it the “proper way”, although if you’re careful then soldering’s fine. I think there’s one near me. Is batteries plus bulbs the same?

 

[LaPorta]

I have them tack-weld on tabs, and then I solder the tabs to bits of the old ones. I really should get the welder as well, but it worked ok for me. Here is how the packs looked side-by-side. You can see the tabs they put on with some length. I trimmed them up and then soldered as necessary in the second photo. One more important thing I ran into: make sure that the cells DO NOT have the protruding nubs from the positive side. If they do, the cells will not fit inside the battery case. They need the flat positive and negative ends.

 

[TonyJay]

I have them tack-weld on tabs, and then I solder the tabs to bits of the old ones. I really should get the welder as well, but it worked ok for me. Here is how the packs looked side-by-side. You can see the tabs they put on with some length. I trimmed them up and then soldered as necessary in the second photo. One more important thing I ran into: make sure that the cells DO NOT have the protruding nubs from the positive side. If they do, the cells will not fit inside the battery case. They need the flat positive and negative ends.

View attachment 63856 View attachment 63857

The 'nub' issue is an important one as cases often do not have any clearance. I rebuilt a PB 145b battery but had to send back the batteries initially sent. They listed as 'flat' as they were not truly flat. Company was good about it and found truly flat NiMH for me. For that matter, AA battery diameters can be different - companies should list the full specs for any battery as nothing screams frustration better than a glued case that won't slide into the device, because it is very slightly bulged (aka my Newton 2100 battery rebuilds).